Page 146 of Enzo

Matteo nods. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Enzo shuts the door after they leave, but I sense his restlessness, no matter how much he tries to hide it.

“This is a beautiful place,” I say, with more enthusiasm than I feel. He’s got something on his mind and he seems distracted.

I go up to him with a suggestion. “How about you relax, binge-watch more TV, and whatever you need to? I'll make us a nice dinner.”

He wraps his arms around me, pulling me to him and hugging me. “I love you so much.”

Did I hear what I just heard?

His words slipped out so easily. I want to look up at him, but I'm so scared that he'll realize he didn't mean to say that. So I hold onto those words as I rest my head against his chest, hearing his heartbeat, feeling him drop a kiss on the top of my head.

He said he loves me.

Oh God.

This man is like no other.

After everything that's happened, he hasn't blamed me. He hasn't looked at me differently. He's held me while I've fallen apart and made me feel safe when everything else in my life feels uncertain.

And now he's told me he loves me.

Somehow the pain of everything that's gone wrong in my life—losing Oakleigh, Miss T and my school children—slips away, because Enzo makes me feel so loved and so cherished.

I tighten my arms around his waist and hold on to him, letting out a long, deep sigh. We stay like that for a long, long time, before he moves apart.

“I need to check some things on my laptop.”

“Okay.”

I knew he wasn't going to sit around watching TV, not unless I was snuggled up alongside him. He has things to do, so I leave him be.

I open the refrigerator. It’s fully stocked, of course. There's enough food in here to last a month. I stand and look at it for the longest time because I've never had a fully stocked fridge and now I know what it looks like.

I marvel as I walk around the state-of-the-art kitchen. Running my hands along the marble countertops. I stare at the shiny, squeaky cleanliness of the glass and tiles and countertops.

Everything looks expensive, and beautiful.

There are fresh flowers vases dotted about the apartment.

Who did this and when?

After a quick look at the rooms—I discover there are four—Enzo tells me which room is ours.

Ours, he said, like I belong here.

My heart feels so full it almost hurts. Everything has been turned upside down so fast that I barely know which way is up anymore, and yet here, with Enzo, happiness keeps sneaking in when I least expect it. I want to hold onto it.

To this.

To us.

I unpack my bag, and offer to unpack Enzo's when he doesn't say anything because he's frowning at something he's reading on his laptop, I go ahead and do it anyway. I sort out the laundry. Check out the bathrooms. Run my hands along the glass. Look up at the view. Look at all the fixtures and fittings.

This is like the Manhattan penthouse, but a little more lived in.

This is how these people live.